Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma listens to a reporters question during a media session at the NCAA Women's Final Four college basketball tournament Monday, April 5, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas. Stanford plays Connecticut for the national championship Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jay Bilas had glowing words for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski on today’s Mike and Mike in the Morning show calling him one of the “greatest coaches in American sports.”

(Somewhere in San Antonio, Geno Auriemma is silently cursing to himself)

First things first, Mike Krzyzewski is one of the great coaches in college basketball. He surpassed Bob Knight (3) and just tied the late Kentucky coaching legend Adolph Rupp with four national championships and trails only John Wooden, who earned 10. And Krzyzewski has even won Olympic gold with the men’s national team in 2008.

Auriemma has six national championships and is chasing No. 7 tonight along with a 78-game win streak exclamation point. Like Krzyzewski, Auriemma’s team is competing in the competitive east coast region, arguably the most difficult region for basketball talent – for men and women. Five of UConn’s six titles were won from 2000-2009, a golden era for women’s basketball talent.

Championships are just one ingredient in the recipe for coaching success. Phil Jackson is considered one of the greats for his Zen-like approach with NBA egos, Tom Izzo’s game time strategies put him in an elite league of his own and Pat Summitt is one of the best motivators of any sport. She even put on a cheerleading uniform a few years back during halftime of a men’s game to help drum attention for the women’s team.

There is no doubt Mike Krzyzewski is one of the top 10 greatest college basketball coaches of all-time. But if he is leap frogged into the No. 2 spot, is that a direct slap in the face of women’s basketball?

Comments

Geno coaches in the Big East. Do some research. And I would argue that in the modern era for women’s basketball it’s far easier for programs like UCONN and Tennessee to win. Every top player graduating high school dreams of playing for one or the other. When top players don’t go to either, it comes as a surprise (see Auriemma’s reaction to Jess Foley going to Duke). There is infinitely more parity in the men’s game. I’m not discrediting the argument that Auriemma and Summit should be in the discussion of the great college basketball coaches of all time, but men’s and women’s titles are apples and oranges.

It’s silly to compare men’s and women’s coaches. The men’s coaches face significantly more obstacles than do Auriemma and Summit. In the men’s game, the best players treat colleges like the hoop they need to jump through on the way to the NBA. Great players can go to any number of schools and get the exposure and playing time necessary to further their careers. Given the WNBA’s lack of stature, UConn and Tennessee are the top of the mountain. As plesser said, the best female athletes are expected to go there.

Just as we see when college coaches try to jump to the NBA, their weaknesses are exposed when they deal with superior talent. I understand that Geno and Pat have no reason to leave their respective schools, but you never, ever see women’s coaches jumping to the men’s side, whereas it works when men’s coaches try the women’s game.

I equate the comparison that the gossip columnist is making to a hypothetical in which a career minor league baseball coach is considered better than his major league counterpart because he has more wins and league titles. It’s absurd. When the women’s coaches start coaching in the big leagues, then you may have an argument.

This is not a slap in the face to the women’s game. But there simply is more parity in the men’s game than the women’s. The talent is nowhere near spread out with the women as it is with the men – Geno and Pat are two of the best all time, but what Coach K has done in the face of the difficulty of the men’s game is more impressive than what Pat and Geno have done.

I could not disagree more with other comments here. Coach K constantly has the best recruiting classes so the theory that “every high school graduate” dreams of playing at Tennessee and Connecticut is true, but it is also true every male high school graduate dreams of playing at the Duke and UNC’s of the men’s game.

In fact some would argue Duke only got a 1-seed because of Coach K’s reputation. Yes he is the best in the Men’s game with 4 titles, but he is sitll below Summitt with 8 and Auriemma with 7 – they are also above him from a PR standpoint as they turned women’s basketball from a high school gym atmosphere to a game that garners magazine covers, television contracts, 16,000+ attendance averages, and are solely responsible for the popularity of the game in the mid-90’s that created TWO professional leagues (now 1) — Coach K has not, and will never, be able to create that type of buzz.

He can’t create that kind of buzz in the men’s game because its already there. The best recruits dont dream of just going to Duke or UNC. How about Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, etc… If your able to go to UCONN or Tennessee as a woman you go since it is the only way to get publicity and gives you a much better chance at the WNBA.

To me john wooden was an amazing coach and so r coach k and geno but, pat summitt bye far to me is number one! What she has accomplished for the sport is awsome! She is the best of all time in college basketball men or women!